Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/104

Rh prove, contrary to the viewpoint of the School of Han Learning, that the scholars of the Han period did not ignore philosophical study. He left a few works written from the standpoint of Sung neo-Confucianism, among them the 朱子語類日鈔 Chu-tzŭ yü-lei jih-ch'ao, 5 chüan, printed 1850. Despite this interest in neo-Confucianism he accepted and mastered the scientific technique of the School of Han Learning and thus produced many sound works in various fields. A notable work, entitled 東塾讀書記 Tung-shu tu-shu chi, comprising his critical notes on the classics, represents in detail his critical method in classical study. He edited the work late in life and printed (1880–82) 15 chüan before his death. It was reprinted with one additional chüan in 1898, but the remaining manuscript drafts were lost.

As a geographer Ch'ên Li worked, as stated above, on official compilations of maps. When came to Canton in 1849 Ch'ên outlined to Wei his detailed criticisms of the Hai-kuo t'u-chih—the famous world geography compiled by the latter. It is reported that Ch'ên's suggestions had much to do with Wei Yüan's revision of the work. In the field of historical geography Ch'ên Li wrote the following works: 水經注西南諸水考 Shui-ching chu hsi-nan chu-shui k'ao, 3 chüan, printed with a preface dated 1847; and 漢書地理志水道圖說 Han-shu ti-li-chih shui-tao t'u-shuo, 7 chüan, printed in 1863. The former is a study of the watercourses of southwest China appearing in the ancient geographical work known as Shui-ching chu (see under ); and the latter is on the watercourses mentioned in the geographical section of the Dynastic History of the Earlier Han. A supplement (補正) in 2 chüan by Wu Ch'êng-chih 吳承志 was published in 1921. Ch'ên Li was also interested in philological study and published in this field several works, among them the 切韻考 Ch'ieh-yün k'ao, 6 + 5 chüan, printed in 1868–70 and in 1880. This is a detailed study of the system of spelling or expressing a sound by means of two other characters. A small work, entitled 摹印述 Mo-yin shu, printed with a preface dated 1847, is a study of the mo-yin, one of the eight forms of characters said to have been used for seals in the Ch'in period. Ch'ên left two mathematical works: the 弧三角平視法 Hu san-chiao p'ing-shih fa, 1 chüan, a work on spherical trigonometry; and 三統術詳說 San-t'ung shu hsiang-shuo, 4 chüan, a detailed treatise on the ancient method of constructing the calendar known as the San-t'ung li (曆). Ch'ên's history of Chinese music, entitled 聲律通考 Shêng-lü t'ung-k'ao, 10 chüan, printed in 1850, is a basic work still regarded as necessary to students of Chinese music. Of the works mentioned above four were reprinted under the collective title 東塾叢書 Tung-shu ts'ung-shu and most of the others were printed and reprinted by the Kuang ya shu-chü (see under ) after Ch'ên's death.

A collection of Ch'ên Li's prose works was published during the years 1849–59 under the title Tung-shu lei-kao (類稿)—a title he changed in 1859 to 鐘山集 Chung-shan chi. After his death there appeared two collections of his prose writings, each entitled Tung-shu chi (集): one compiled in 8 chüan by Liang Ting-fên 梁鼎芬 and printed in 1886; the other compiled in 6 chüan by Liao T'ing-hsiang and printed in 1892. Two small collections of his verse were printed by Wang Chao-yung 汪兆鏞 in the latter's 微尚齋叢刻 Wei-shang chai ts'ung-k'o (1908–14). The printing blocks of Ch'ên Li's works, as well as a part of his manuscript drafts which had been preserved by his descendants, were destroyed late in 1927 when the first Chinese Soviet in Canton was crushed by an army of Chiang Chung-chêng 蔣中正 (b. 1887, better known by his T. as Chiang Kai-shek 介石). But several of Ch'ên's manuscripts which failed to be printed are preserved in the National Library at Peiping, at Lingnan University in Canton, and in several private libraries, among them one owned by Wang Tsung-yen 汪宗衍 who wrote a chronological biography of Ch'ên, published in the Lingnan Journal (vol. IV, no. l, 1935) under the title 陳東塾先生年譜 Ch'ên Tung-shu hsien-shêng nien-p'u with Ch'ên's portrait and other relics. A portion of the manuscripts preserved at Lingnan University were printed in the Lingnan Journal (vol. II and V, 1933 and 1937).

The eldest son of Ch'ên Li, Ch'ên Tsung-i 陳宗誼 drew the maps for his father's supplement to the Yü-kung t'u by. The work was published in 1863 under the title Hu-shih Yü-kung t'u k'ao-ch'êng (see under ).

[1/488/27b; 2/69/54b; 5/74/16a; Nien-p'u (see above); Ch'ien Mu 錢穆, 中國近三百年學術史 Chung-kuo chin san-pai nien hsüeh-shu shih (1937), chapter XIII.]

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